A Woman Alone in a Ball Room
by This is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Summary: OneShot. Henry has been invited to a ball. So have Jo, Hanson and Lucas. Lucas is a little lost with the elegant clothes and beautiful girls, but Henry is there to offer him some advice. And then there's Jo... And later in the night Henry himself gets a dance partner... [Henry/Lucas in a father son moment, friendship fic]


_**Characters:** Henry, Lucas, Jo, Hanson_

 _ **Time:** It doesn't really matter. Some time in the middle of the first season._

* * *

 _"All day long she's waiting for the night to ask her out_  
 _To be somebody's dancer, to get lost inside a crowd"_

 ** _Skin, by Boy_**

* * *

"Lucas for heaven's sake, fix your tie!" Henry said, exasperated, an unmistakable tone of reprimand in his half whispered voice as he walked towards his young assistant.

"What?" Lucas asked, a little lost, looking down at his tie for a mili-second and looking up again, scouting the ball room with his eyes, as if he was trying to find something in the crowd. He could see what was wrong with his tie but there must be something, or Henry would have said anything, and Lucas transferred his glass to his left hand, using the right to squeeze the knot on his tie carelessly.

"No, not like that!" Henry said exasperated again, handling Lucas his drink and fixing the younger man's tie for him. The doctor untied the careless knot quickly and then he stopped for a moment. He had to think for half a second on how to start. Henry was accustomed to doing that for himself, but he'd never had much opportunity to do it for someone else. When Abraham was younger, Abigail usually took care of that. It didn't take him long to remember, though. "Done correctly, the Windson knot projects confidence and stature." Henry explained, as Luca's eyes went from his own tie to the crowded room several times in rapid succecion. "Which is a lot more than you're displaying right now, I should add."

"Ah- - The girl in the store did it." Lucas explained "I didn't know - -"

"The girl at the store?" Henry repeated, as though that was unthinkable. "She obviously didn't know what she was doing. But I can certainly understand you, Lucas, you're not the first man to be distracted by a pretty girl who offers to help him with his tie." Henry said, a cunning smile on his lips. He finished with the tie and took his drink back from Lucas' hands and turned to look at the people in the room, standing by his side. "However, I must say, I very much doubt the girl at the store was more beautiful than her."

Henry had a sip of his wine, smiling.

"Her? What? Who?" Lucas looked at Henry, and the young man almost dropped his glass is his haste to make sure Henry didn't know what he'd looking at.

"The lovely lady in blue standing by the stage, whom you have been starring at for the past half hour." Henry answered calmly, swirling his wine and smelling the scent of the beverage.

"She- - Who- - What lady?" Lucas asked, barely noticing how acute his voice had become in that last sentence. "I wansn't loo - - Just - - Digging the music, doc." He said quickly, and tried to drink from his cup but he choked with the wine and started to cough violently.

"Lucas!"Henry turned to face him and held the young man's arm, making sure that he was okay. When the coughing was over he turned his eyes to the girl again. "Calm yourself. She is truly beautiful."

Lucas was still catching his breath when he looked at the girl again.

"She –," he started, but his voice died before he couldn't finish. She was beautiful. But starring at her from his corner of the room was as close as he'd ever get to that girl and he didn't want the doc to think of him as a loser. However, it seemed that denying he's noticed her was beside the point now, so Lucas said the first thing he could think of to not make everything worst. "I, uh, wouldn't kick her out of bed..." he finished, in a very low, very timid voice,…

Henry looked up, slightly upset at his assistant's choice of words.

"Just please don't mention that particular remark to her when you ask her for a dance." Henry offered his advice, politely.

"Don't, what?" Lucas voice had that high pitch again. "I'm not going to talk to her, doc!"

"Why not?"

"Why not?"

"You clearly want to talk to her."Henry pointed out "You're a young man, she's a young woman, this is a dance. I'd say circumstances are in your favor."

"Doc, that girl wouldn't talk to me in a million years." Lucas said. He seemed certain of his position, however a little sad.

"I think she will."

"I wouldn't know the first thing to say!" Lucas said exasperated, this time dropping some of his wine on the floor with the movements of his hands.

"Lucas," Henry started, taking the drink from his hands, "just walk up to her and say 'may I have the honor of this dance?"

"Geez, doc, are you sure?"

"It hasn't failed me yet." Henry smiled. Luca was still looking at him nervously, so he added: "Just trust me, Lucas. Now, go!"

Lucas stepped forward and looked back at the medical examiner one more time, looking for a little more encouragement, before proceeding. Henry nodded, and Lucas breathed deeply, nodding aback and walking towards the girl.

Henry left both glasses at a nearby table and crossed his arms in his back, watching the young man approach the girl. Lucas had not been gone for more than 2 seconds when another voice distracted the doctor.

"Hello, Henry." Jo said, but before she could say anything else, someone else spoke.

"Doc, did you just send Lucas after that woman?" it was detective Hanson's voice. Henry barely had the time to say hi to Jo, without taking his eyes from Lucas, before Hanson continued: "Ha, Ha! Way to go, doc! That will give us something to laugh about for a week!" The detective drank some of his beer and turned to watch Lucas.

 _So crude…_ Henry thought to himself. He hadn't _sent_ Lucas anywhere, he had merely given the young man a nudge. But then again, it was just like Hanson to speak like that. Like they were in a tavern.

Jo sighed, the way she did when she wanted to annoy Hanson, and it worked:

"What?" Hanson asked, turning to face her. "A woman that hot is not gonna talk to a guy like Lucas in a million ye-"

"Hanson," Jo interrupted him, indicating Lucas with her head and Hanson turned to see. As he watched, Lucas cleared his throat and the young woman looked at him. Then he said something, and the girl laughed.

"I'll be damned!" Hanson said, not taking his eyes from the young couple. "I don't believe that, she's gotta be laughing _at_ him.

"I don't think so." Jo said, carefully, a smile on her lips.

 _Right, Lucas._ Henry thought, rooting for his younger friend. _Take her hand now._ _Offer to lead her to the dance floor._

"There is no way the hot girl is dancing with him. No way." Hanson held on to his skepticism.

"Oh, I think she will." Henry said simply.

Jo no longer watched Lucas. Standing barely a step behind Henry, she took the opportunity to observe him discreetly. He was smiling. Unlike Hanson who still watched the scene thunderstruck, hoping to have something to mock Lucas with, henry seemed to be rooting for Lucas. There was something in his smile, it was- - It was almost as if he was proud of the younger man. It made Jo wonder how close Henry truly was to his young assistant, and how deeply he cared about him.

Henry was too distracted with Lucas' enterprise to notice Jo's eyes on him. _Take her hand,_ he thought, _you should have taken her hand by now!_ But there was no way Lucas could hear him, and after the girl nodded, on what was safe to assume was an acceptance to his dance invitation, Lucas simply turned his back on her and started walking, as though he expected her to follow. _No!_ Henry thought impatiently. _You should have taken her hand!_ But just as the medical examiner regretted not having told Lucas to do that, something that would have seemed, to Henry's eyes, too basic to even mention, the young woman reached Lucas and placed her hand on his arm. The gesture seemed to surprise him. _There it is_ , Henry thought, relieved.

Jo took a sip of her white wine, still watching Henry's facial expression when Hanson spoke.

"No! I don't believe it." He said stubbornly. "Admit it, doc, you put the girl up to it."

"I did not. I have never met her before." Henry assured him.

"Well, you said something to him."Hanson insisted.

"True."Henry said, enigmatically.

"And…? What was it?"

"I thought you were married, Hanson." Jo reminded her partner, notes of both reprehension and amusement in her thoughts.

"I am." He explained himself turning to Jo. "But whatever the doc said that made that woman go for Lucas is that kind of… you know..." he lowered his voice to almost a whisper, in a rare display of embarassement in front of his partner, " _Pant-dropping_ line that every guy should know about."

"Detective!" Henry was appalled. There was still too much of a seventeenth century man in Henry for him not to be surprised that Hanson would use such words in front of Jo.

"Come on, doc, what did you say?"

"If you must know," Henry started, "I simply offered him some old-fashioned advice on how to approach the young woman."

"But how did you know she was gonna go for him?" Henson asked…

But Henry was no longer listening. He was watching Lucas dance with his girl. He seemed nervous. It reminded Henry of another dance he'd attended. Many years before.

* * *

The year was 1908, and the ball room was even larger than this one. He didn't remember exactly why he was there, or who had invited him, but he did remember her.

She was beautiful. A blond girl with pink lipstick. She had looked in his direction a couple of times, but they'd never met before. He'd had his eyes on her all night, trying to muster the courage to ask her for a dance.

By that time, of course, Henry had had many different dance partners. He remembered his first dance, when he was no older than thirteen, and most of the partners that followed. But the times were different now. They way people danced had changed. Back in the 19th century it would be unthinkable to hold a lady's hand for more than a few seconds. Nowadays he was expected to keep his arm around his partners' waist the entire duration of a song. It seemed like something too personal a thing to ask to a woman he'd never met.

Besides, she was incredibly beautiful. _Too beautiful to dance with me_ , Henry had thought, in much the same way he'd just discouraged Lucas from thinking.

But eventually, when the ball was almost over, he made his way across the room to talk to her. "May I have the honor of this dance?" He asked. Her smile said something like: "I thought you'd never ask."

She seemed so confident, and it was not till they found themselves standing in front of each other in the dance floor that Henry noticed she was nervous too. He breathed deeply, placed one of her hands over his shoulders and his own left hand on her waist. She blushed, and smiled at him.

They stumbled the first couple of steps, and the girl looked down, laughing nervously at her own inaptitude. Henry laughed with her. "That's okay, just follow my lead," he whispered in her ears. The scent of her perfume was wonderful. They found each other's rhythm and got closer as they danced, enjoying every moment of that closeness. Their hands only unclasped when they joined the others in applauding the musicians.

When the music started again, they got back into each other's arms. No question needed to be asked. They danced every song after that one, and the all felt… easy. Right.

When the night was over, Henry walked her outside, holding her hand. She was the one who spoke first.

"Thank you for the dance. I didn't think I was going to be asked on a dance tonight."

"I wanted to ask you the whole night." He admitted, feeling a little silly.

"Really?"

"Yes." Henry said, simply. "But you seemed so, - - I thought perhaps you wouldn't want to dance."

The girl laughed, holding his hand a little more tightly.

"Mister Morgan," she started, looking him in the eyes. "A woman alone, watching a ball room is nearly always longing to be someone's dancer."

"Someone?" Henry asked, nervously.

"Well of course. I can't be just anyone."

Henry smiled. Now he was thinking about kissing her.

* * *

"Doc?" Detective Hanson's voice pulled him back to reality. "How did you know she was gonna go for him?"

Henry sighed.

"Detective," he started, "a woman alone, watching a ball room is nearly always longing to be someone's dancer.

"That's so old fashioned, Henry,"Jo said, "perhaps, she's just enjoying the music."

"Perhaps." Henry agreed, turning to face Jo for the first time since she'd arrived.

"No, no, I think the doc is on to something here, Jo." Hanson said. "Go on, doc."

But Henry was no longer listening.

Jo looked absolutely stunning. Her dark hair laid loose upon her bare shoulders, and it seemed longer than it had been the last time Henry saw her. She was wearing an elegant long dress, navy blue, and the vision of her shoulders in the strapless garment made her look so delicate. It almost made him forget she probably had a gun hidden somewhere in that dress. She looked beautiful. It left henry thunderstruck for a moment or two.

"Doc?" Hanson called, but Henry ignored him.

"Detective Martinez," the doctor said, "may I have the honor of this dance?"

Jo smiled, handling her glass to her partner. She took Henry's hand and the two of them walked to the dance floor, leaving a completely speechless Hanson behind them.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** I haven't uploaded any Forever stories for way too long. This one is short, but I had written in my notebook about a month ago and now I am uploading it here... Hopefully it's a good one. The girl in the flashback is not Abigail, which should be obvious by the fact that it's 1908, I think. _

_I still have many ideas for Forever stories, and I'll continue to upload them. It may take a while, because of university, but it will happen... It was unfair that the show was not renewed, if for no other reason than there are many stories left to be told with those characters. I intend to tell some of those stories here._

 _Please review, and look for more Forever stories soon._


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